


Eyebrows, Rainbows, and Hares, Oh My!

by Karios



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Puns, Friendship, Gen, Minor Original Character(s), POV Bill Potts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21564499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Karios/pseuds/Karios
Summary: Bill drew in a breath, so her voice would carry. “Doctor!”“Yes?” the woman smiled. “I’m right here, Bill. There’s no need to shout. Unless you were looking for the grey-haired Scotsman. If so, he’s wherever you left him. Have you tried his office? I spent a lot of time there.”
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Bill Potts, Twelfth Doctor & Nardole & Bill Potts
Comments: 10
Kudos: 146
Collections: Public Call - Doctor Who fic exchange 2019





	Eyebrows, Rainbows, and Hares, Oh My!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paynesgrey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/gifts).



When Bill showed up at his office on this particular afternoon, the Doctor was all pacing and warring eyebrows and half-finished sentences. Nardole came in to usher her out of the office.

“Not a good time, Bill. Come by tomorrow,” Nardole suggested. 

“What's going on?” Bill tried to glance back into the office, but Nardole pulled the door shut. 

Nardole sighed. “Temporal anomalies, and not the fun kind. Trust me, you won't miss anything except some anxiety-filled guitar riffing. Consider it a snow day.”

Bill thought it was too warm for snow and that she didn't appreciate being brushed off, but let it go. She could let both the Doctor and Nardole know how she felt when whatever was going on had passed. “Okay. See ya.” She turned and waved over her shoulder before marching back toward the front of the building. Her heavy steps did little to vent the frustration that was weighing her down.

Today had sucked, frankly. Bill’s bad day began with drama with Moira, and her mood had not improved after dealing with several demanding students in the canteen. Topping it off, she had managed to ruin a pair of jeans when she sat in something she’d rather not identify on the bus. They were stupid things, yes, but that was part of why she looked forward to time with the Doctor. Cosmic perspective and all that.

Bill pushed open the door, and had just turned down a passage between that building and the next when she nearly fell over laughing. Nestled there among the brick walls was the TARDIS. Bill picked up her pace and the doors opened as she approached them. 

Once she'd stepped inside, Bill noticed that the TARDIS was different. The bookshelves were gone; this room was more cramped; the central column was a chunky crystal, not the sleek glass she was used to. The grating under her feet had changed too. This stuff looked like a cross between pumpkin innards and lava rock. Did temporal anomalies redecorate? 

Bill was so absorbed with playing spot the difference that she had yet to take in the blond woman at the opposite end of the console room. A woman, with her back turned to Bill, who was presently having words with the TARDIS. 

“I did not ask for this school. Plenty of good memories at St. Luke's, I know...” she was saying.

Bill frowned, her earlier irritation doubling. “So that's what he calls it. Are you the 'temporal anomaly' then?”

The woman turned and gasped as if she were the one who’d been caught blowing Bill off.

“Bill,” the women said in an awed whisper. The number of emotions warring for control of the woman’s face made no sense for someone who’d only just met Bill. “I suppose if you're here and you're...you, I must be.”

Bill backed up a step, shaking her head vigorously. “You’re not making a lot of sense.”

“I suppose I’m not, am I? Sorry about that. Feel free to try again,” the woman said, her tone oddly chipper.

Rather than ask another question, Bill drew in a breath, so her voice would carry. “Doctor!”

“Yes?” The woman smiled. “I’m right here, Bill. There’s no need to shout. Unless you were looking for the grey-haired Scotsman. If so, he’s wherever you left him. Have you tried his office? I spent a lot of time there.”

“I just came from there,” Bill said, though she couldn’t be sure why she was answering. “He was…”

“Busy worrying about all the wrong things when his priority should be you.” She sounded properly annoyed but shook it off just as quickly. “But that’s the benefit of hindsight. Still, tell Eyebrows that for me, would you?”

“Eyebrows?”

“Nicknames make it a bit clearer. Using the Doctor is weird when there’s more than one of us around, and pronouns are hard to keep track of.”

“You’re a collective. Like some sort of space Charlie’s Angels?”

“No. No. Most of the time there’s only one of us. Me. Only one of me. See what I mean about pronouns now?” The Doctor chuckled. “Two Doctors ending up in the same place happens more often than I’d like. And occasionally there's been more...”

“You’ve lost me, again.” Bill took another step back. She liked it better when she'd thought the other woman was the Doctor's date. “So, you're the Doctor and he's the Doctor.”

“Uh huh.”

“And there's more of you.”

“At least a dozen, but depending on when you ask me, the number changes. You know, like refusing to acknowledge a picture of yourself with a bad haircut. Except I get mad at myself for things like destroying a civilization.”

“Those aren't really the same at all,” Bill said in an effort to be helpful.

“Drat.” The Doctor snapped her fingers. “I thought I was getting better at analogies. Oh well.” She skidded down the length of the console and hit a button, causing a biscuit to tumble down a long chute. “Custard cream?” She held it out to Bill. 

Bill stepped forward to accept the treat and nibbled on it. “So did you come by to just tease me with the knowledge that I could have been learning from a cute, blond version of you?”

“No, I mean, the TARDIS just dropped in. Are you sure nothing terrible's going on? Or could it be your birthday?” The Doctor's nose scrunched as she added, “Did you just call me cute?”

“Nothing requiring a double dose of Doctor that I've seen. It's definitely not my birthday. And,” Bill drew out the word before sidestepping that last question with, “maybe you should check with yourself though? About whatever might be going on.”

The Doctor nodded. “That sounds like an excellent idea. All of today's points for Bill.”

Bill grinned as she led the way back out of the TARDIS and to the office. Bill realized as they reached the doors that if this woman really was the Doctor, then she knew exactly where it was. Bill knocked on the door. “I found the temporal anomaly,” she informed Nardole.

“You did?” Nardole asked. “Where?”

Bill stepped through with the Doctor. Once inside, she pivoted to be able to look at both of the Doctors at once. The fond smile the woman shot the TARDIS and the complicated smile she offered Eyebrows did more to convince Bill she was the Doctor than even finding her inside the TARDIS. 

“Who's Rainbows over there?” 'Eyebrows' Doctor asked, and yes, Bill had decided to embrace the nicknames.

“You're the anomaly. She's you,” Bill replied confidently.

“Sorry about the spoiler,” 'Rainbows' Doctor replied cheerily, nodding at the pictures on the desk. “But I don't think there's any big threat here.” Her voice dropped to something sadder. “I just missed her.”

From there, some sort of intense staring contest broke out between the Doctors with twitchy facial expressions and enough rapid-eye movement to make the campus sleep lab jealous. From his place against the opposite wall, Nardole cheered and waved his arms occasionally.

Bill watched the back-and-forth for several annoying minutes before she burst out with, “Someone tell me what's going on!”

“We were arguing telepathically,” Rainbows explained.

“About?” Bill prompted.

“You, naturally,” Eyebrows said with one of his signature uncomfortable smiles.

“Me? Why?”

“I want to take you on a trip. And he's worried I'lI lose you. Which is rich considering he—”

“Doctor!” Eyebrows barked.

Rainbows nodded, looking mollified. “Right, right.”

Bill walked right between them, shooting each Doctor a glare. “I'm not a toy.”

“Of course not!” both Doctors chorused.

“Then don't I get a say?” Bill asked.

“Of course you can travel with her, if you want to.”

“Or not,” she was quick to add.

“I'd like to go with you.” Bill nodded toward Rainbows.

“That settles that then,” Eyebrows said looking very, well...Bill had never seen that expression on him before. On anyone else, she would've called it wistful.

“Do try to be careful,” Nardole added on their way out.

The Doctor scoffed as Bill shut the door. “I am very careful!”

Bill bit back a laugh. “Course you are, all of you.”

On the walk back to the new TARDIS, Bill asked, “What was that all about fighting over me?”

“We get a little jealous. You were his friend first.”

“But you're still you!”

“Well, yeah, but it would be a bit like I brought you to visit yourself at ten or forty. You'd share some memories, but you'd have different preferences, possessions, people and places that matter most. It's a big universe, so we can afford to dibs a bit.”

Bill hummed, thoughtful. “Makes sense I guess.”

At the TARDIS the Doctor threw open the doors and ran inside. “So, Bill Potts, all of time and space. Where should we head next?”

Somewhere funny,” Bill suggested. She hoped it was the sort of request this Doctor might like. Specific, yet open-ended and flexible. Also true, after the day she'd had. “I could use a laugh right now.”

“Somewhere that's funny. Funny.” The Doctor leaned on the console, giving it some thought. “We could try the planet that's essentially one large clown college? On second thought, we might end up there in the middle of a war. They do some surprisingly vicious things with pie.” The Doctor visibly shuddered.

“Uh.”

“No. Wait. Fungiloptist. It's a whole planet full of mushrooms. Some sentient, some edible, some just bouncy. Fewer than you'd think are psychoactive. Just gotta be careful not to mix those up. We'll be just like that game with the plumbers. Expect we're not brothers. And there's no evil reptiles or apes. Okay, maybe not like that game at all.”

“I'll pass on Fungiloptist,” Bill decided and the Doctor deflated a little. “I'm sure it's a good time, but can't we just go see a comedian perform?”

“Comedy is tricky. What passes for a good joke on one planet, or time period, or even one group to another is different. The best jokes on Gallifrey were about maths.”

Bill laughed at that. “That explains a lot about you, actually.”

“Does it?” The Doctor's nose scrunched and twitched as she ruminated on that thought. Bill finally recognized what it reminded her of. The class rabbit they'd had back in Year Two. Bill had never her chance to take it home. Her foster parents at the time had refused to sign the permission slip.

“Actually, forget the comedy. Could you give me rabbits instead?”

The Doctor's whole face lit up. “Somewhere leporine. That I can do. You'll need warmer clothes though. I'd recommend a parka.”

Bill raced toward the wardrobe, grinning. Nardole had been right about the snow day after all.

When Bill got back to the console room, decked out in a bright yellow coat and mittens, the door to the TARDIS was already open.

The Doctor appeared to be hugging a tree trunk or thick pipe. “Hello Bill. Sorry about this. Quick pit stop.” With one final heave, the large cylinder popped free. The Doctor spun it and then stuck it back in place. “This asteroid is full of magnets. It was vitally important someone reverse the polarity on that one,” the Doctor explained.

“Shouldn't we take a look around?”

“There's not much to see. It's a very small celestial body.”

“So you're saying it's not very attractive?”

“No. It's downright repulsive.” The Doctor winked. She and Bill shared a laugh at the cheesy pun. 

Somewhere on Earth a drummer was compelled to play a ba-dum-tiss in response even though she had not heard them.

“Now. Time for snowy space rabbits.” The Doctor hit various switches, buttons, and levers. “Bill, hit that green button.”

Bill gave it a push and with a few more twisted knobs, they were off.

Moments later, as she exited the TARDIS, Bill skidded across the icy ground, her shoes gliding along the low friction surface. She windmilled her arms to no avail, but the Doctor raced forward and looped her arms around Bill's waist, breaking Bill's fall as they both tumbled to the ground.

“Sorry I didn't catch you in time,” the Doctor whispered.

Bill couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. “I'm not sure I'm sorry.”

The Doctor looked away before getting to her feet, and offering Bill a hand up. They walked hand in hand across to the settlement.

“Don't want you to slip again,” the Doctor said. “The ground here is likely the most treacherous thing about this time on the home of the Blizzard Hares.”

“Not very creative,” Bill pointed out.

“How do you mean? Oh, the name. Well, that's not what the locals call themselves. In their language, it's closer to this." The Doctor let loose a series of chitters and squeaks. "But my accent isn't the best for replicating the tongue of the Blizzard Hare, so that's an acceptable translation.”

They spent a pleasant afternoon helping to groom grateful locals. Somewhere along the way, they fashioned Bill a cap and the Doctor a scarf from shedded clumps of fur.

“Thank you!” the Doctor said as she wound the scarf around her neck. “Used to love scarves. Should wear one more often.”

Bill patted the downy soft hat. “Yeah. These are great.” 

“It was the least we could do. You two are welcome back anytime,” one of the Hares said. Bill had tried to get their name but even with the benefit of the TARDIS translation circuit, it still was a difficult-to-pronounce string of vowels. The lilac fur of this particular Hare Bill would remember. It was like touching clouds.

Back in the TARDIS, Bill changed back into clean dungarees. The flight was over by the time she returned to the console room. The other Doctor was waiting for them when they landed at St. Luke's.

“It turns out, you and I, we're not the only temporal anomalies around here,” he said addressing his other self.

“Have you investigated yet?” Rainbows asked, and the nickname was even more fitting thanks to the multicolored scarf.

“I was waiting for Ms. Potts, unless...” He let the sentence dangle, waving vaguely in the air. 

Bill looked between the two Doctors. She knew what she had to do. Bill hugged the Doctor nearest to her tight, brushing a kiss to the corner of her mouth before Bill could talk herself out of it. “Thanks for all this.”

The Doctor hugged her back. “No, thank you. For being there for the me that needs you most.”

Bill let go and she moved to join Eyebrows. “Lead on.”

“So is my future in good hands?” he asked. 

Bill beamed up at him. “Absolutely.”

“I'm glad. And now adventure awaits.” 

“Can't wait!”

The Doctor got a mischievous glint to his eye. “Then we'd better run.”

The Doctor took off, and Bill hustled to catch up. Behind them, the TARDIS dematerialized.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Public Call paynesgrey!
> 
> I hope this wasn't too fluffy, figuratively or literally, for you.
> 
> Many thanks to Sanity and firstlovelatespring for spaging.


End file.
